“Resource efficiency and product safety have become even more important in consumer, retail-ready and food service packaging. As a result, customer demand for our pure fresh forest fibre based paperboards is growing. We want to respond by offering our customers high-quality paperboards also developed for new kinds of end-uses,” states CEO Mika Joukio.
Metsä Board is marketing the new board machine’s 400 000 t/a capacity to the Americas, as well as to food service end-uses such as cups, plates and trays globally. The new board machine will also allow the company to optimise production at its mills in Finland and improve overall availability of high-quality paperboards.
This year many improvements supporting the company’s growth have already been carried out at the Husum mill site, both at the pulp mill and at its own port. Paper machine PM8 has been switched, as BM2, to production of white fresh forest fibre linerboard, with a capacity of 300 000 t/a. Metsä Board is marketing this linerboard output mainly to the Americas and Europe both for food and general packaging.
The company is also continuing uncoated fine paper business reels production on BM2, planned to cease by the end of 2017 at the latest. Based on the increasing linerboard production and the closure of paper machines PM6 and PM7, approximately 500 000 t/a paper production capacity will disappear from the market by the end of 2015.
In accordance with its strategy, Metsä Board is focusing on fresh forest fibre based folding boxboards and linerboards, developed as the perfect fit for consumer goods, retail-ready and food service packaging. Following the Husum investments, the company’s paperboard capacity will exceed 2 million t/a, from the beginning of 2016.
Metsä Board is a leading European folding boxboard and white fresh forest fibre linerboard producer as well as a market pulp supplier.
